Forthcoming Events

BEALE PARK VENETIAN BOAT RALLY      8^th, 9^th & 10^th June 2012

 

Summer 2012 will see a rally of UK based Venetian boats in one location in England. This will be on a lake connected to the River Thames near Pangbourne, Berkshire, a lovely rural situation. It is next to a small zoological attraction called Beale Park. At least sixteen Venetian boats will attend.

The lake covers 7 acres (3 hectares). Venetian boats from the rowing club, City Barge, will be rowed from Oxford to Pangbourne before the rally, on 6th and 7th June, and back again afterwards on 11th and 12th June. Privately owned Venetian boats will reach Beale Park by various means. Visiting Venetian rowers are invited to take part in these voyages and come to the Beale Park Boat Show which will be at Beale Park on the 8th, 9th, and 10th of June.

 This is an annual event where more than a hundred exhibitors display boats for sale, show boats being built, and sell accessories to boat enthusiasts. There is a beer tent and food is available throughout the show. There will a camp site next to the showground. The show is usually visited by about 10,000 people each year who have an interest in small boats.

There will be some social events at the lake for rowers in the evenings and day visits to other nearby locations. London is an hour away by train. Oxford is less than half an hour away. There will be a social event in a marquee by the lake on Saturday night after the public have left.

The Venetian boats will be very much part of the boat show. They will be berthed on the lake in a matrix of mooring poles and walkways. The walkways will not be open to the public, but the boats will move on the lake and on the river to show the Venetian technique of rowing, and come to a public pontoon to give rides. Some demonstration races may be organised. About a hundred Venetian rowers are expected to come to the show. This includes Venetian rowers from Germany, France, Netherlands, and Austria, and Venice.

 On the weekend before the Boat Show, on 3^rd June, there will be a parade of a thousand boats on the Thames in London to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Two extra-ordinary boats will come from Venice to be in the Pageant. The largest gondola in the world, powered by eighteen 18 rowers, (from Querini Club) and one powered by ten rowers (from Settemari Club will follow the Queen  through central London.

The Boat Show is well described at   www.bealeparkboatshow.co.uk and the Queen’s Thames Pageant is described at    www.thamesdiamondjubileepageant.org       contact  richard@oxwise.co.uk